obama's speech, page-9

energe, samd67,

Thanks for your insightful comments.

I did avail myself of the internet, and it is a glorified database, or "full electronic medical record functionality" if you prefer.


Okay, it's comprehensive, it "connects various hospital information systems providing researchers, clinicians and administrators with a flexible and detailed view of clinical and administrative patient data",
"enables healthcare providers to manage their processes whilst at the same time giving secure authorised access to patient information to those who need it, anywhere and at any time"
it links in with radiology and pathology, etc, but at the end of the day, its a database.

It does have the backing of the UK national health, and I'm not trying to be-little the achievement of IBA, but

What I want to understand is ....

1. Why it cost so much to make (300-400 $million) ?
2. How they can sell it for so much ? (Millions of dollars for each install)

I'm saying this from the point of view of being a developer of commercial software myself. $300-$400 is a HUGE budget for any software project - unheard of in any similar field.

To put it another way. A really good software developer earns $150,000 a year. So there are 2000 really good software developer years in the development of this software.

d